BOPDHB History Whakatāne Hospital History Book | Page 18

Over the period from 1913 to 1923, several other buildings were moved onto the Mission Hospital
site as temporary accommodation for staff and patients and many of these were moved onto the new
hospital site on its completion in 1923. The site was to the west of the entrance to Walter Thompson’s
farm which was later subdivided to become Walter Park. The Māori Mission Hospital site is now
occupied by two houses at numbers 1 & 3 Walter Park but some of the original trees still remain.
It soon became clear that the single ward at the Mission Hospital was totally inadequate for the
needs of the district and in 1916 representation was made to the Hospital Board Chairman, Alex
Peebles, ‘that more accommodation (other than the Mission Hospital) was needed to accommodate
the number of accidents from greatly increased road traffic’24. In truth, the Smallpox outbreak late
in 1913 and the Typhoid Fever outbreak in mid 1914 had already seriously challenged the capacity of
the small hospital to cope with the numbers requiring help.
The Chairman approached the Anglican Diocese for permission to lease part of their building, and this
was agreed to. However when the serious influenza epidemic broke out in 1918 and hospital space
became extremely crowded, marquees and other temporary buildings were erected on the Bridge
Street site and the Board accepted an offer from Mr Leonard Buddle, a Whakatāne solicitor, to use his
home in nearby Landing Road as a second hospital.

24

Bay of Plenty and Charitable Aid Board Minutes, Volume 1 (03.12.1902 - 21.06.1917) 21
September 1916 (Auckland, Archives New Zealand, Reference ADHL A1669 122975 6)

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